Safety appliance for railway-cars.



J. M. POWERS.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLCATION FILED OCT-27, 1915.

Patented J une 27, 1916.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOIJRAPH cu.. WASHMMD- 9 J SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 2?,1916.

Application filed October 27, 1915. Serial No. 58,223.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, JOHN M. POWERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Valley Falls, in the county of Rensselaer, State of New York, have invented certaln new and useful Improvements in Safety Appliances for Railway-Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to safety appliances for railway cars.

The object of the invention is to provide an appliance which can be associated with any standard railway car and when so associated will automatically operate, in the event of a wheel breaking, to apply the air brakes and stop the car.

A further object of the invention is to provide an appliance of the type named which in the event of one of the wheels on the car axle breaking will prevent derailment of the opposite wheel and which will further prevent the flanges of the wheels from riding the rails.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists in the details of construction and in the arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing the invention in detail reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a transverse section through a car showing the invention applied and also showing the position of the parts when the axles and wheels are in perfect condition at which time the parts embodying the mechanism are inactive; Fig. 2, a View similar to Fig. 1 showing the parts of the device in the position they would occupy when same has been operated through the medium of the downward movement of a car axle when one of the wheels carried by the axle has broken; Fig. 3, a side view of what is shown in Fig. 1 with the near wheel removed; Fig. 4, a section on the line 1+4: of Fig. 1, and Fig. 5, a detail section of the valve associated with the train pipe.

Referring to the drawings A indicates one of the car axles, B the wheels, 0 the ordinary track rails, D the bottom of a car, E the usual longitudinal car girder, F the train pipe, and G a valve included in the train pipe for venting to the atmosphere and embodying an operating crank 10.

Suspended from the girder E by means of bolts 11 is a block 12. Secured to this block against the underside thereof through the medium of connections 13 is a member 14:. The nature of the connection 13 is such that they will sustain the weight of the member 14 and the parts connected to said member but as soon as the Weight of the axle A is added the connection 13 will break. Se-

cured to the block 12 and extending beneath the member 14 is a plurality of U-shaped hangers 15 the lower portions of which are disposed in spaced relation to the member 14L. Depending from the member 14 are rods 16 and 17 the lower ends of which are U-shaped and disposed in embracing relation to the axle A. The member 14: is connected to the crank 10 of the valve G by a rod 18 so that downward movement of the member 1 1 will operate the valve G to place the train pipe F in communication with the atmosphere and thus apply the air brake for the purpose of stopping the car or train as the case may be. Assuming the part to be in the position shown in Fig. 1 it will be apparent that when one of the Wheels B breaks the axle A will move to the position shown in Fig. 2. During this movement of the axle same will engage the lower ends of the rods 16 and 17 and this added Weight will break the connections 13. The member 14L will then fall downwardly upon the hangers 15 and this falling movement of the member let will operate the valve G to apply the air brakes and stop the car in the manner previously referred to. Carried by the arms 16 and 17. is a cross bar 19 having beveled ends 20 which are adapted to cooperate respectively with flanges 21 on the axle A. These flanges 21 are disposed directly beneath the adjacent beveled end 20 so that any tendency of the wheel to rise to allow the flange of the wheel to ride the rail will be effectively prevented by engagement of the flange 21 with the end 20.

What is claimed is:

1. A safety appliance for cars comprising a venting valve connected to the air brake system of the car, a member detachably secured to the car through the medium of breakable connections, and positioned to be engaged by the car axle by downward movement of the latter so that the added Weight of the axle will break the connections and alloW said member to fall, means for limiting the falling movement of the member, and connections between said member and the valve whereby the falling movement of the member Will open said valve.

2. lhe combination With a car and Wheeled axle, of spaced flanges on said axle, a member depending from said car, and a cross bar carried by the member and adapted to be engaged by said flanges to prevent abnormal upward movement of the axle under the influence of the tendency of the flanges on the Wheel to ride the rails.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature, in the presence of tWo Witnesses.

JOHN M. POWERS.

"Witnesses:

KATHRYN A. DAYTON, JOHN V. DAYTON.

Gopies of this patent may; be obtained for five cents each, by addressing; the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

